A Covington police officer, the subject of two police brutality investigations, resigned Tuesday, just after he appeared in a St. Tammany Parish courtroom and admitted choking a city resident during a traffic stop and leaving him handcuffed in the back of a patrol cruiser for "an inordinate amount of time."

Sgt. Eric Driscoll was charged with simple battery during an unscheduled hearing Tuesday morning and pleaded guilty minutes later. He received a suspended six-month sentence, placed on two years of probation, fined $500 and told to perform 30 days of community service.

Driscoll was ordered to resign from the Covington Police Department and forbidden from holding a law enforcement position for the duration of his probation.

"He was accused of making a mistake and he accepted responsibility," said his attorney, Raymond Burkart III. "He's a human being and human beings sometimes make mistakes, regardless of their station in life."

Driscoll, 32, had worked for the department for eight years with "a good reputation," his attorney said.

The officer had been under investigation for months for two separate incidents -- the June traffic stop and a second incident involving an early-morning bar fight behind the Green Room in downtown Covington.

He has not been charged in the latter.

The battery charge stems from a June 28 traffic stop of Joshua Kentzel, 36. According to the District Attorney's Office, the incident "involved an improper take down and choking event" in which Kentzel was injured, then "handcuffed an inordinate amount of time" in the backseat of Driscoll's patrol car. Rick Wood, spokesman for the district attorney, did not know how long he was left there.

Kentzel was booked with resisting an officer and careless driving, both misdemeanors. The DA dismissed those charges in September.

Kentzel on Tuesday said he wanted to tell his story, but he declined to do so, citing potential litigation.

Last month, acting chief Capt. Jack West appeared before the Covington Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board to request a 30-day extension on Driscoll's suspension. Mayor Michael Cooper requested the same for Palmisano. Cooper, though, refused to provide a specific reason for Palmisano's leave or for the investigation that led to it.

Cooper has not returned a series of calls requesting information on whether Palmisano will be terminated or return to work this week. He wrote in a statement Tuesday afternoon, "I am determined to get to the root cause of the problems which have plagued our Police Department for some time. The behavior exemplified in this case was uncalled for and will not be tolerated.

"The internal investigation regarding Chief Palmisano is coming to a close within the prescribed time and the outcome will be forthcoming after due process and procedures of civil service are complied with."

Driscoll's June traffic stop came four months after he and several other officers responded to reports of an early-morning bar fight at the Green Room on Boston Street.

Driscoll and his colleagues say they set about arresting two suspects who resisted, so the officers used appropriate tactics to subdue them.

But the men who were charged -- Lucas Breazeale and Edward Boudreaux, both 32 -- along with seven witnesses say that the cops grabbed them at random, smashed one of them against the hood of a car, then beat, handcuffed and repeatedly shocked the other with a Taser, even after he promised to cooperate.

Steve Irwin, the attorney for Breazeale and Boudreaux, complained to the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a non-profit watchdog group, which filed complaints with the police department's internal affairs division and the District Attorney's Office.

On Tuesday, crime commission Vice President Anthony Radosti said that probe "continues to move forward."

Radosti opined that Driscoll's guilty plea in the Kentzel case might hurt the officer's believability if he ever needs to defend himself in the aftermath of the Green Room fracas.

But Burkart says Driscoll, in the Kentzel case, "stepped up to the plate and became accountable for any of his actions and inactions."

He also noted that Driscoll has not been charged in the Green Room matter while the criminal charges against Breazeale and Boudreaux remain pending.

Breazeale is scheduled to appear in court on a resisting police with force charge on Jan. 9. Boudreaux is scheduled on a charge of resisting arrest on Jan. 26.

Driscoll is the second Covington police officer charged with roughing up a resident in recent months. A St. Tammany Parish grand jury indicted former officer Kenneth Stevens with simple battery in June. Stevens, like Driscoll, is accused of using an excessive take-down maneuver against Jerry Braswell, owner of Braswell Drugs, who'd taped off viewing space along a city street prior to a Carnival parade.